Homer the Smithers

Infobox Simpsons episode
episode_name = Homer the Smithers


image_caption =
episode_no = 145
prod_code = 3F14
airdate = February 25, 1996
show runner = ListGenBot-SourceStart|SimpsonsRunners|SimpsonsRunnersS07
Bill Oakley
Josh Weinstein
writer =
John Swartzwelder
director =
Steven Dean Moore
couch_gag = The Simpsons are wearing fezzes and drive to the couch in minicars à la the Shriners. When they put their cars in park, all of them honk twice.
commentary = Bill Oakley
Josh Weinstein
Steven Dean Moore
season = 7"Homer the Smithers" is the seventeenth episode of "The Simpsons"' seventh season, originally broadcast February 25, 1996. It was written by John Swartzwelder and directed by Steven Dean Moore. In this episode, Burns learns to take care of himself, rendering Smithers redundant. As a result, Homer helps Smithers get his job back.

Plot

After a company night out to the Springfield drag races, Waylon Smithers fails to protect Mr. Burns from a drunken (but well-meaning) Lenny. Though he tries to make amends the next day, Smithers attempts to drown himself in the water cooler out of guilt. Burns suggests that he takes a vacation. Smithers purposely chooses Homer to be his replacement due to Homer's incompetence. However, Homer fails to work to the specifications of Burns's rigid orders, with Burns continually berating Homer for every little thing he does. In his rage, Homer punches Burns in the eye. Homer then panics and runs home, fearing he has killed Burns.

Homer goes to apologize, but is turned away by Burns (who only suffered a black eye) out of fear. With no one around, Burns learns to do things himself, such as making coffee and operating the telephone. Smithers, fired upon his return, enlists Homer in a scheme to get his job back by getting Burns to handle a call from his mother (the one task Burns still cannot do), but it backfires. Smithers and Homer engage in a fight within Burns' office. In an attempt to escape, Burns climbs up a large stuffed bear, and when the tussle causes the bear to smash through the window, and fall through with Burns still attached, Burns sustains several injuries that necessitates his need for Smithers again. Smithers rewards Homer with a basket of fruit.

Cultural references

*Smithers, sensing something is wrong with Mr. Burns, is similar to Hallorann sensing something is wrong with Danny in the 1980 film "The Shining".
*One of the dragsters is sponsored by the FOX Network.
*When Homer is punched in the stomach Smithers' hand is within the fat. This is a reference to "", in which the T-800 punches the T-1000's head, only to be enveloped by liquid metal.
*At the end of the episode, when Smithers is feeding Mr. Burns peanuts, Mr. Burns opens his mouth and makes a clicking noise, as in "A Clockwork Orange" when Alex is being fed by the Minister of the Interior. The manner in which Burns becomes injured is also similar to Alex: they both take a potentially life-threatening fall from a top story window.
*Homer's terrified jabbering includes the words "Let's get ready to--!", a reference to boxing announcer Michael Buffer (who appeared as himself on the season eight Simpsons episode "The Homer They Fall").

External links

*snpp capsule|3F14